Nebraska Newspapers

    THE FARMERS' ALLIANCE: LINCOLN, NEB., SATURDAY, DEC. 13, 1890.
THE CONTEST.
A. Case That .Will Go Down In
History.
A Remarkable Showing of
. Election Outrages in
Omaha.
IT IS TRIED IS TWO CASES.
Boyd's Title to the Guberna
torial Chair Must Stand on
Its Own Merits.
BOYD ADVISES-ASD USES VIOLENCE.
Ho Peats a Voter With a Club
Incendiary Speeches to
Foreigners.
A Historic Case.
The taking of testimony in what will
go down in Nebraska's political annals
as a celebrated case began Thursday.
Not only will tie people of Nebraska in
years to come quote as a precedent the
contests ot the Independent candidates
against the democratic' candidate for
governor aud tbe republican candidates
for the' other state offices, but in will be
a case'for frequent reference for other
states.
Pursuant to 'the notices of contests
served according to the requirements of
law, the taking of the testimony which
will bo laid before the legislature was
begun Thursday forenoon. The attor
neys for the contestants are Lamb, Riek-
etts & "VTilson of Lincoln; Allen, Rob
inson & Reed of Madison; and V. O.
Strickler of Omaha. The coutestees are
each represented by different counsel.
Boyd is represented by Harwood &
Ames of Lincoln, 'and John C. Cowiu
and John D. Howe of Omaha; Majora
and Hill by C. L. Hall of Lincoln; Ben
ton by L. Y. BUIiDgsley and -D. G.
Court nay of Lincoln; Hastings, by his
partner "MoGintie of Crete; Allen, by
Gen. C. J. JJilworth ot Hastings; Hum-'
phrtv bv H. M. Sullivan of Broken
Bow and Thos. Darn all of Lincoln;
Ooudy, by J. K. Goudy of Pawnee City.
The useless complications that would
result from the hearing ot" half a dozen
cases involving the same matter and the
same witnesses was disposed of before
the taking of testimony was begun by
t ie signing of the following, stipula
tions: "In the matter of the contest in the
case of W. II. Dceh vs. Thomas J. '
Majors for lieutenant governor, of the
state of Nebraska: C. N. May berry vs.
John C. A! leu for the office of secretary
of state of tha state of Nebraska; J. .
Wolfe vs. John E. Hill, fox the office of
. . . p XT. 1 1. - .
treasurer ot tne state 01 .weorasKa;
John Batie vs. Thomas II. Benton, for
the office of and it or .of public accounts
of the state of Nebraska; d. VV. JiXiger
ton vs. George II. Hastings, for the,
office of attnrnev-general of the state of
Nebraska; W. F. Wright vs. Augustin
It. Humphrey, for the office of commis
sioner of public lands and buildings of
tho state of Nebraska; A. D'Allemand
vs. Alexander K. Goudy. for the office
of superintendent of public instruc
tion." It ia hereby stipulated and agreed by
and between each of the above named
contestants and coutestees that the tes
timony of the witnesses iu each of the
above entitled contests shall so far as
taken at Lincoln, Neb., be taken to
gether before , notary public
on-behalf of each and all of the contest
ants, and before . notary pub
lic, on behalf of each aud all of the
above named contesteos. The above
named contestants shall be entitled to
have one stenographer, and the above
named contest a nts shall be entitled to
have one stenographer. The testimony
of each of the witnesses produced and
sworn on behalf of either the contest
ants or contest. es shall be extended by
the stenographers for each of said con
tests, and compared copies thereof shall
be furnished each contestant and' con
feree. The evidence of each of the
witnesses produced and sworn shall be
evidence in each of the said contests in
the same manner as though the same
was taken separately.
The notaries taking the testimony as
herein provided sha'i attach a com par
eel copy
of the
extended
evidence to
the notice of contest in each of the
entitled cases and transmit the same
with the notice to the secretary of state
as required by law, which shall be the
evidence in said case3 of contest re- .
spcctively. E ;eh of said contestants
and contestec s hereby expressly waive
the subscription and signing of the said
several depositions by the witnesses
respectively that shall be produced and
sworn.
Each of these said contestants and
coutestees may be represented by sepa
rate counsel in the taking of .the evi
dence in tbd same manner as if taken
111 each of the eases separately. Each
of the parties, contestants and coutes
tees shall be entitled to take objections
and exceptions to evidence in the same
manner and with thQ fame effect as if
the evidence was taken in each case
separately. In witness whereof, the
above named contestants and contestees
have hereunto subscribed their names
respectivel'."
Pursuant to thesa stipulations A. S
Tibbetts was selected by Boyd's attor-
neys and B. F. Johnson by Powers' at
torneys. To try the contest on the other
state office's Frank Waters was selected
by the republican contestants awd A. W.
Scott by the contestees. -
N. S.'llarwoo I conducted the exami
nation for Boyd and V. O. Strickler, as
sisted by H. H. Wilson, for Powers.
Mr. Harwood opened his defense by
putting on record a 'general objection
' to the proceedings because-the law does
not provide for a contest for any elec
tion wherein no canvas of the returns
has been made, as there is no authentic
way of knowing who will be declared
elected: second, because the law pro-
vides for the taking of testimony before
one notary in one place, whereas in the
nresent instance the notice calls for the
taking of testimony before four differ-
ent notaries in lour different places;
third, because thrf notice pf contest had
not been served upon the contestee
within the time fixed by the statute;
many bonka and one of the ablest or ttuuu w ivmv.v
mrrr women, is. at tbe Hire of 70 ped on deck.
fourth, because the notice did jiot con
tain facts sufficient to constitute
grounds for the contest.
The first winess called was .
Sarn'McLeod,
who testified that he lived at 1444 South
Twenty-eighth street in Omaha. Har
wood objected to taking testimony in
Lincoln about an Omaha election and
made the same objection when each
witness was called. McLeod testified:
Saw no violence or any breach of the
peace while at the polls; saw no one
take tickets away from any one; a few '
days before the election witness was at l
a meeting of the ward republican club, j
and before the meeting came to order j
C. L. Chaffee said that if any prohibi
tienists attempted to challenge voters
they ought to clubbed away from the ,
polls, and he would see that they
WOULD BE CLUBBED.
The feeling was worked up to a pitch to
allow no party to. peddle amendment
tickets at the polls; the leaders of the
parties bad agreed to allow no challen
ges. There was intimidation against
these peddling amendment tickets. He
was threatened for peddling republican
tickets with the amendment on. The
keeper of the tlog pountt in Omaha
threatened
TO KILL A NEGRO
who had brought some prohibition
workers to the polls if he did not take
them away; they were not voters. Two
other men were" heard making threats.
The men who made the threats were
supporters of Boyd for governor; they
assumed to control the polls, as if no
orie else had any rights. Their general '
tenor was foul and profane; they were ;
personal rights men; many republicans
scratched Richards' name and put on 1
B.oyd's; they were all for Boyd. Saw
no tickets with pasters on; don't know ;
that any were used. The police made
no effort to control the crowd and did
not seek to prevent these men from
using foul and profane language, nor
did the judges of election. This was in
the first and third precincts of the Sev
enth wartl.
Cross-examined by Harwood: Saw
no men prevented from voting for
Powers or Mr. Richards; heard no in
timidation against voting for Richards
or Powers; it was on all the amendment
questioa; the foul language and threats
used was not directed against voters in ;
those precincts and no one was prevent-'
ed from voting. j
E. E. Eiving
Reside on Sonth-Twenty-Third street," ;
Omaha; am a qualified voter in the ,
sixth district of the second ward; went J
to the polls at 10 a. m ; several persons j
were there, probably 10Q or 150;
1 n T r. t . . . .-
am a ;
Svvedish Luthern minister; think
I saw
persons wearing personal rights league he shou d carry out these laws with re
badges, but am not certain as to ihat ' gard to this liberty that they had given,
precinct; so also with Poyd badges; an t
enort.was made to
P!nLm? ;,rora I
V (JLiuj witcu A went iu liic puna iucio i
was no such tickets as I wanted; went
to the third district to get such a ticket; '
luiue puna iuclc ,
returned In about two hours; some one
had reported that I was a prohibitionist;
they ail rushed for me; had not my
ticket fully prepared and the crowd
pushed me about so that I could not
nrenare it. Witness thn went, on to
tell how the polideroen at' first declined !
to see the people pushiug him, but
finally stood and protected him with his
rdnh while hftchancftd his ticket. Thftn
the officer' escorted him to the polls
while he voted and then led him awav
and advised him to go home, as he
would not answer for his safety. He
had voted for Powers. . As the officer
led him away the crowd -cried out:
"LET US KILL HIM,"
and "Let us go and hang him." He
finally went home at the. solicitation of
friends who knew that he was a' prohi- j
" bitionist. At the third district he saw i
three men who were peddling amend- j
ment tickets struck. One had a dog
thrown at him which struck hirn in the
face. Another was pushed off the side
walk into a hole and struck on his head.
The assailants wore personal rights
badges and were for Boyd. A police
man declined to arrest them. Witness
was abused by the crowd which called
him "the biggest rascal in the world."
Saw tickets taken away from two men.
The crowd threatened to arrest them,
v saying that they were peddli g bogus
tickets. It seemed to him that the po
lice were in sympathy with the bois
trous element.
Cross-examined: The tickets objected
to had the names of Boyd, Richards
and Powers upon them, and were ob
jected to because they were for the
amendment. A man who worked for a
groceryman named Hunt afterwards
told witness that Richards should not
be voted for because he was for prohibi
tion; saw no one prevented from voting
for Powers; know of no case in either
of the precincts;. was at one of the polls
two hours.
Redirect: Saw no challenger in either
of the prec'nets. ' Do not think it would
have been safe to stand at ihe polls and
challege Boyd votes at the sixth ward.
Recross: Do not know that it would
not have been safe for a man who had
hot made himself obnoxious to the
crowd as a prohibitionist to stand at the
polls and challenge Boyd votes or any
other kind.
' In answer to Mr. Strickler witness
said that in his opinion, had there been
no prohibition question, Boyd would
not have received nearly as many votes
as he did. They said that Mr. Boyd had
made pledges such that all who opposed
prohibition favored him.
To Mr. Harwood: The city of Omaha
was very much opposed to prohibition;
never heard that Mr. Boyd had said in
his speeches that if prohibition were
adopted he would enforce it; didn't
know that Mr. Boj'd resided in Omaha;
supposed his popularity was due to the
fact that lie stood in with the whisky
ring; thought the whisky ring com
prised the brewers and saloon keepers.
George W. Clark
of 1509 North Twentieth street, Omaha,
was sworn. Voted in the Sixth ward,
second precinct; favored the amend
ment; wr.s peddling all kinds of amend
ment tickets; various devices were in
dulged in to dispossess him of inde
I pendent tickets, such as by soliciting
tickets from him two or three at a time
until he declined to give them out in
that Way, when they began to abuse
him; couldn't say who abused him
didn't know their names; saw no per
sonal rights badges; the crowd kept de-
j mauding to see the
dlinjr; among the
tickets he was ped
crowd was Henry
Voss, who asked to see tickets; witness
' held them up in front of Voss' face, who
threw his left arm over witness' richt,
grabbed his wrist and tore the tickets in
, two and scattered them to the wind, re-
" marking, "That's the way to treat the
s of a b-f ." A little later some one
took hold of witness' aim an. not f pre
'f I "
ibly nor yet gently, drew him out of the
crowd. When they were clear the
stranger remarked, "I wank to five you
an option." Witnessed asked what it
was and the man, who professed to be a
friend, tolduina, "You better get right
out of here or you will
GET TOUR, NECK STRETCHED."
Witness, before he left, stepped up to
Voss and remarked, "I will have you
arrested as soon as I get down town."
"AH right," replied Voss, "I'll get in
the buggy and go right down town with
you." Witness thought it would have
been unsafe to challenge Boyd votes,
especially were the challenger a prohi
bitionists. A bunch of the torn tickets
was identified and offered in evidence.
From what witness saw and heard,
Boyd was the favorite candidate with
this mob..' "
Cross-examined: ,Saw no one pre
vented from voting for Mr. Powers. Mr.
Paine or Mr. Riehards. Witness voted
an open ticket for Paine. The feeling
was on the amendment; did not call oni
a policeman for piotection and did not r
have Vosa arrested. - ,
. Anthony Johnson
testified that he was rotten-egged in the
sixth precinct of the Sixth' ward; that
his tickets were taket away from him,
even being taken out of his pockets;
that some W. C. T. U. ladies who visited
the poll3 were subjected
to the whole
code of indignities.
FRIDAY FORENOON.
The sensation of Fridty forenoon.was
the testimony of Silas W. Wilson. Mr.
Wilson is a member of a band that was
engaged to play at one of the meetings
of the Personal Rights league. Mr.
Boyd had addressed this league and evi
dently did not understand that there
was anybody present who did not sub
scribe to his views. What he said was
said in evidence of good faith to the
whisky cause and not necessarily for
publication.
BOYD ADVISES REBELLION.
Mr. Wilson's testimony on this re
markable speech as Mr. Boyd's was as
follows:
r Boyd after he was introduced made a
; few. preliminary remarks,
praising up
the old country people, saying he was
glad to see them here and welcoming
them here, as citizens of the United
J States, and also the
principles of free
speech, free action, .free thought and
everything of that kind. He told them
of the oppression they had to suffer in
the old country and that they were here
.. . j I ..... I j I , . . j 1 - .j . i A.
auu siiuutu ijb uiauc welcome; auu luat
as a party and as a peopla in America
and he stated that after they had come
0hi8.co"ntr7.aml Jf.k u? : 1
.iuuw auu uecoiue ciuzeuso! uie umieu
States, "if there is any law made m this
country that is contrary to your per-
sonal rights, you would b justified, if ,
against it." I was there at the time, j
hired by the party, as ope of the music
ians in the band. I turned to the band
members and made this remark. I
said "Anarchism" and called their at
tention to it.
W. B. Prush
testified as follows, his testimony bein
Deing ogiven in lull: Lxamined by
O. Strickler on behalf of the contestant
Q. Where did you reside on the 4th
day of November of this year? A. 3414
Fowler avenue, Omaha.
Q. That is in Douglas county, "Ne
braska? .A. Yes, sir. . - .
Q. How long have you resided in
Omaha? A. About four years.
Q. Were you a voter in the city of '
jmana? A. ies, sir.
Q. In what ward do you reside?
A,
in the bixth ward.
Q. In wnat precinct of that ward?
A. The second precinct.
Q. You voted at the second precinct
of the Sixth ward? A. Yes sir. I did.
Q. Were you at the polls during that
time? A. Yes sir.
Q. You may state whether or not
any effort was made to prevent you
from voting.
Q. At what precinct . were you
stationed tkat day? A. I thiak it was
the Fourth or the Second. The polling
place was Fifteenth and Williams.
Q. You mean the fourth precinct of
the Second ward? A. Yes sir.
Q,. What ticket did you handle on
that day? A. I handled the demo
cratic, republican, independent and
prohibition tickets with "For the
Amendment" printed on all of them.
Q. State whether or not Mr Poweis'
name appeared on those tickets. A.
Yes sir. - ,
Q. Did any person or persons at
tempt to take those tickets away from
you that day? A. Yes sir.
Q. Did they succeed? A. Yes sir.
Q. Did any person offer violence to
you at that precinct that day? A. Yes
sir.
Q. Now state how or in what way
did they offer violence, to jrou? A. Well
I was pulled and hauled aud kicked and
struck with stones, that was the manner.
Q. About how many people were
around the polling place? A. I should
say there was 200 or 300 probably.
u. Uid any ot them wear Personal
Rights League bades? A. Yes,- a very
large number of them. .
Q. Did any of them wear Boyd
badges? A. Yes sir.
Q. Do you know who the men wear
ing Personal Rights League badges fa
vored lor governor? A. 1 did not ask
all of them. .
Q. State if you know, I do not care
where your information is derived
from. A. I know they were generally
for Boyd. I know this by their conver
sation. Q. Did any of those persons wearing
the Personal Rights League badge also
wear the Boyd badge? A. Yes. sir.
Q. You may state what part they took
in the demonstrations there at the poll
ing place. A. Well they seemed to be
the ring-leaders.
Q. Were the tickets that , you had
bearing the name of Powers taken
away from you and destroyed? A. Yes
sir : :t.-
Q. You 6tated a moment ago you
were shoved and shuffled and nicked
about, now did those men wearing Boyd
and Personal Rights badges take any
hand in that fuss?- A. Yes sir.
Q. Did you give those men - any occa
sion for the violence to you? '. A. Well,
I do no know on what grounds they
offered the violence, I had said nothing
offensive, as I supposed to anybody; in
fact, I said nything to anybody.
Q. You had no personal , difficulty
with those men? A. No sir.
Q. You had no altercation with them
they were strangers to you? A. Yes, sir.
' T" " " . ' . 1 - - -
muss manage to escape unknown to oarticulara: but in this it is a crand 1.
Q. Why was it they assaulted you?
A. Well, I think it was their position
to the amendment that caused it, I
think so.
Q. For whom were those men work
ing for governor, if you know. A.
Well, I could not say who all of them
were worfiing for. I said a while ago
that the majority of them were work
ing for Boyd, from their conversation.
Q. Were there any policemen at that
precinct? A. The first time I attended
there there was one deputy sheriff and
one policeman that I know of, that is
there was a man who wore the star of
the depnty sheriff and one metropoli
tan policeman.
Q.- Did those policemen interfere
while those men were assaulting you?
A. No sir.
Q. Did you appeal to them for pro
tection. A. Yes sir.
Q. What did they say? A. He did
not sav'inythiDg.
Q. "They simply ignored your re
quest? A. Yes sir.
Q. 'Do you know whether the police
men witnessed any of these acts them
selves?" A. They were standing look
ing at it. They were in a position to
know; they could see it, had they
desired. I think so.
Q. About how close were they stand
ing? A. I went right up by the side of one
of them and was pulled away and as
saulted by some one and struck.
B. You was right by the side of the
police? A. Yes sir.
Q. Did he attempt to arrest any par
ties? A. No sir.
Q. Were you permitted to stay at that
precinct all day? A. I staid there about
five minutes the first time, I think;
Q. Then what did you do? A. I saw
my, life was in danger; I felt that, and
started to leave the polling place, and
was not permitted to leave it peaceably;
I was assaulted with stones and pieces
of coal and brickbats and such like
missiles.
Q. Who threw those missiles at you?
What class of men threw those missiles
at you? A. It was the rabble that fol
lowed; that is all that I know about it.
Q. The same persons who had made
assaults on you at, the precinct? A.
I do not know whether they were iden
tically the same. -
Q. Did any of them wear badges?
A. Yes, sir.
That is the crowd who
followed me.
Q. You may
you were hit by
state whether .or not
any of those missiles.
A. Ies, sir, 1 was struck nve times.
Q. Whereabouts were you struck?
A. I was struck three times on the
head and twice en the back with stones
or hard missiles.
Q. State, whether or not you were
knocked down by any of those missiles.
A. ' Yes sir, twice.
Q. State whether or not your head
noi Tcut bTenbut the skm wasT
was cut open. A. Well my head was
n wCArfl ,hnnt(1 ar,d whnt r.art, nf
fl df A x tMnk it ws just
jrobably a scratch, a flesh wound, but
noty great;you can see it yet, I
'
Q. The kin was cut open and bled
freely did it? A. The blood ran down
on my neck some, yes sir. -
Q. I believe you were knocked down
twice. Did the policemen at that time
offer to interfere? .-A. Well, I was
knocked down, the polling place was at
Fifteenth and Williams, but I started
off to Sixteenth street, and just as I got
to the corner of Sixteenth and
went to step off the curb and
get into the street, I was knocked down
once and then once in the middle of the
street.
O. Did th8 police at that time inter
fere? A. The police, I do not think,
left the polling-place, that was
one
block away, and there was no
ice
there that I know of.
Q. Do you mean to say that the crowd
followed you four blocks from the polling-place
and then knocked you down
twice? A. Yes sir, and still further.
Q. How far did they follow you? A.
Weil, 1 think they followed us from
that corner north, somewhere probably
about a block at that time.
Q. Still a block further on? A. Yes,
sir.
Q. And that would make two blocks
from the polling place? A.. Yes, sir.
Q. Was there any other person than
vou at that time. A. Yes sit.
Q. State who it was. A. Charles B.
Elton.
Q. State what he was doing there. A.
We were sent there at the request of the
non-partisan amendment committee to
work for the amendment.
Q. Did - he have
tickets similar to
those you held.
Q. You may state whether or not his
tickets were taken away from him. A.
Yes sir. ,
Q. And by whom were those tickets
taken? A. By the same class of peo
ple. .
Q. Did he receive any further vio
lence at their hands? A." Not at that
time.
1 may state where you went
from there. A. I went to the police
headquarters.
Q. Who did you go thereto see? A.
I went to see .the chief.
Q. WThat is his name? A, Mr.
Seavev.
Q. State what conversation you had
with Chief Seavey. A- I think the
language that I used to the chief was
this: That the polls at that poinfwas
in the hands of a mob. and I might
have 6tated the precinct wrong to him.
because I did not know; at tnat time I
thought it was the Second or the First.
Q. But you have since learned it was
the. Fourth or the First. A. Yes sir.
Q Well what further conversation
did you have with him? A. I asked
him if there was any means by which a
citizen could could be protected at the
polls in Omaha. ,-
What did he say? A. tie says
"yes." and he instructed the sergeant to
take the wa&ou an accompany us back
to the polling place? if we wished to go,
and I told him we wanted to go.
Q. Did you return to the polling
place? A. "I did.
Q. How many policemen accom
panied you? A. There was the serge
ant and two policemen.
Q. In the patrol wagon? A. In the
patrol wagon myself and Mr. Elton re
turned. Q. What happened when you got
back to the polling place? A. I
think the sergeant made inquiry
where ' that policeman was that
had been there; he had disappeared
from the polling place, that is the police-
man who had me there, and ne was
told the policeman had gone to break
fast and the sergeant seemed to be dis
satisfied with the answer, and .1 think
started off and said he had no business
to go to breakfast that time of day.
Q. What did the two policemen do?
- - - - rr-. -1 1 1 "
A. They stayed right near us..
Q. Was there no violence offered you
at that time? A. Well, no personal
violence.-
Q. Were your tickets taken away
from you? A. Yes sir.
Q. Did the police witness that? A.
Well, I do not know, but they pretend
ed not to see it, but the tickets were
torn out of my hands and torn into in
that way. (Witness illustrates with his
hand.) The man that had both ends of
the torn tickets in his hands was there,
and I asked the police to arrest him.
Q. What did the officer say? A. He
fretended not to have seen it, and said
would have to get a , warrant, or
something like that.
Q. He refused to arrest him? A.
He did not arrest him.
Q. Now you may state whether any
of those tickets had on them the name
of Mr. Powers? A. Yes sir, I voted
that ticket myself.
Q. Was there any person with you
at that time? A. Yes, sir. Mr. Elton
was with me.
Q. He returned with you in the
patrol wagon? A. Yes, sir.
Q. Was there any violence offered to
Mr. Elton? A. I think his tickets were
taken away from him the same as mine.
Q. How long did you remain at the
polling place at that time? A. Prob
ably five or ten minutes.
Q. What did you do then? A. My
tickets were first taken out of my hands
and torn up and I had some others in
my pocket, and some personal rights
league man says, "why don't you keep
your tickets in your pockets, as we do,"
and some one took them out of my
pocket.
Q. Do you mean to say these men
went through your pockets? A.- They
took them out of my outside overcoat
pocket.
Q. Did you give them your consent
to do that? A. I did not
Q. They took them 'without your
consent? "Yes, sir.
Q. Did any of those tickets have on
them the name of Mr. Powers?, A.
Ys sir
Q. What became of them? A Why
they were destroyed, I suppose; they
were taken away from me. '
Q. You may state whether or not the
police came to you and advised you to
leave the polling place. A. They were
there already by me, and. they told me
they thought it would be useless for me
to stay, and 1 1 aw myself it was useless
for me to stay any more at the polls. .
. Q, Did the .policemen that were at
the polls extend any protection to you?
A. They did not. One of the police
men told me, he says, "we can't stay
here all day,' and I think it would be
useless for you to stay; you can not do
a thing, and would be the cause of a
disturbance all day." '
Q. Did they say any thing about being
unable to protect you in the face of that
crowd, or anything like that? A. They
did not say they were unable to.
Q. But they did advise you to leave?
A. Yes sir. - I was approached also L
a man bearing personal rights badge,
and the mau says, "Now here, I am a
friend of yours and I believe in fair
play; I am a democrat, but it would be
impossible for me to assist you in any
way to protect vou."
Q. Had you applied to him for assist
ance? A. No sir.
Q. Do you know who he was? A.
No sir. ...
Q. His action was perfectly gratud-
oustheu? A. Ies sir.
Q. What was the condition of things
at that polling place with reference to
the crowd being peaceable, or to there
being a mob? A. Well, they seemed to
be peaceable. They seemed to be piet-
I ty generally for Powers, except one, he
was a pronioitionisc.
WJ. h or whom? A. JtJoyd.
Q. You said Powers. A. But I meant
Boyd.
Q. They were peaceable as long as
nobody interfered with them on the
governor? A. .Wed, I do not think we
were interfering with U'ovd at all. as
long as there was no opposition.
Q. As long as no efforts were made
on behalf of anybody vise? A I said
those personal r'ghts men also said to
me. "If the prohibitionists would stay
i awav from the polls, I think there would
1 be no trouble," and I told him that
, would be the case in Mississippi, if the
negroes staid away'from the polls.
Q. Where did you go then? A. The
I police started to escort us out of the
crowd. I think there was one of the
policemen in the rear and we walked iu
single file, one in front and Mr. Elton
and I in the middle, and we started off
Probably about one-third of the crowd
that was at the polling place hooted and
leered and uttered imprecations and
i threw eggs. "
Q How far did the police, escort
you? A. They escorted us nearly to
the viaduct probably within a block
or half of it; I think a half block
Q. . What distance was that from the
polling place? -A. Well I could not
state exactly. I think about three or
four blocks.
j. C. WThat had become of this crowd
that was following you? A. They still
1 lollowed us. and when we stopped at
that point, they went on and got on the
i viaduct, quite a number of them.
! Q. About how many of them went on
the viaduct? A. Oh, probably 4U or
50. :
Q. Then what did the police do at
that time? A. The police stopped there
and said, "we cannot go anv lurther as
-it will bo leaving our beat." I remon
strated with them and said it looked
very badly for them to take us that far
and turn us loosfc to the mob.
Q. State whether or not that mob
was between you and the street leading
back into the town across the viaduct
A. Yes. sir.
j Q. You could not have gotten back to
town without going through the crowd
A. ies, sir, there was a man ap
proached us while we stood there and
he was a colored man, quite an intelli
gent appearing colored man, and ad
v:sed us to slip around the other street
and get around the mob. - He said the
mob would kill us it we tried to cross
the viaduct, and I told him I thought
we had the policemen there and that
our lives would be protected.
Q. Did the mob still continue on?
w A. They stopped there at the mouth of
the viaduct. : - - . - 1
Q. Did the police desert you at that
point? A. No sir, I told them that I
demanded their protection, and just at
that time there was a motorcame along
' and we were put into a close car with a
policeman at each end, and they took us
through the cro-vd, and they gotoff and
went back to the station, I think:
Q. State whether or not you con-
sidered it necessary for the police to
take these precautions in order to get
vou safely back to town. A. It looked
... .. . . 1
u tuittla fn1 nmit
and
they had there hands full of eg
stones, and shooK them ana ca
illed us
I very vile names.
Q. Did they call you bad names be
jfore that time? A. Well, I should
think so.
I Q. State some of the things. Just
repeat some of those things they said to
you.- A. Well, I think they exhausted
the vocabulary of vile , terms. They
called us sons-of-bitches and other such
names.
Q Do you recollect any of the epi
thets they applied to you? A. Yes
sir, I think I heard some of them, but
they were epithets I would not care to
use.
Q. But it in no way reflects on you?
A., Yes sir, but they will appear before
the legislature and I would not care to
have them appear if there are any ladies
present.
Q. Did they make threats against
you? A. Yes sir, I was threatened
witn being hang.
C2. - State, from what you know 01
that crowd, whether you believe they
would have executed these threats? A.
Well, they showed, a pretty good desire
to carry them out. They threw deadly
missiles, and if I had been struck on the
head or some vital part with them 1 be-
ieve I would have been killed.
Q. State whether or not from what
you Know 01 the cnaracter 01 tnat
crowd, you believe that they meant to
carry out their threats? A. I think
they did.
U. State whether vou left the polling
place for the sole reason that you con
sidered yourselves in danger? A. Yes
sir, I think if I had . been there very
much longer the first time I would have
been killed.
Q. It was because vou wanted to se-
cure your own personal saiety alone
that you left there? A. Ies sir.
U. Were there anv challenges
in
that precinct? A. I
very good opportunity
didn't .nave a
to investigate
that
Q. Did you see any challengers?
A.
No sir.
Q. Do you believe it would have been
safe there for you to attempt to chal-
enge?. A. 1 think; not
R. Either as a republican, independ
ent or prohibitionist? A. I think not.
O. And vour opinion is based upon
what you saw and experienced at tnat
precinct? A. ies sir. '
U. Did you see any democratic,
challengers there? A. I did not.
II Iia vrii f h 1 r I- ifr tr Aiiln hoira hAfln
safe to challenge a democratic voter
there? A. I could not say as to that.
Q. Where did you go next?, A. I
went to the chief of police the second
time.
Q. You went back to the office of the
chief of police? A. Yes sir.
(4. What was said at that time? A.
told the chief that we had been com-
pelled to leave the polls and he said that
e had despatched a squad of men to
shat point,, and I believe he said his
men were under instructions. When I
poke to him about protecting people
he said his men had been instructed
what their duty was. -Q.
Did he insist on your return to
that precinct? A. No sir.
U. Did he offer to extend any protec
tion to you if you would go back? A.
Not directly; but he sent word to me
I don't know whether it was sent to me,
but he said if any one wanted to go baek
ne would send the patrol wagon and
fifty men.
Q. Did you go back any more? A. 1
did not.
Q. From what you saw and experi
enced at that precinct, state whether or
not yoa consider that was a free elec
tion.
Mr. Harwood objects as incompetent.
A. I didn't see any one prevented
rom voting there. .
Q. Just answer the question whether
or not,- from what you saw do you think
that was a free election? A. I cannot
say .as to the actual exercise 01 tne
franchise.
Q. You know that you were prevent-
eel irom nanaung tiCKets merer a.
Yes sir.
Q. And you know Mr. Elton was pre
vented from handling tickets there? A.
Yes sir; from distributing tickets.
Q. You were a citizen of Omaha? A.
Yes sir.
Q. And you had a right to bo there?
A. Well, I suppose so.
Q. Were the Boyd men prevented
from handling tickets there? A. I didn't
see any.
Q. You did not see any tickets taken
away from them? A. Yes sir.
Q. You did not hear of any? A. No
sir.
Q. What do you say as to whether or
not it was free "so far as you and Mr.
Elton are concerned?
Objected to by Mr. Harwood as in
competent, and the subject has been
gone over before.
A. It was not free to distribute tickets
there; that is all. We were not voters
there.
Q. In the face of the violence, was it
possible for it to be a free ejection?
Objected to by Mr. Harwood as im
material and having been gone over be
fore. A. .Well, in my opinion, I should say
no. " - ,
Q. I will ask you to state whether or
not all those persons who were driven
from the polls were not working against
Mr. Boyd? A. There wree two all that
I know of being driven away. I think
that I was'myself against tioyd, but I
don't know as to the other man.
Q. You do not know of anybody else
besides yourself and Mr. Elton who
were there handling those tickets? A.
No sir.
CROSS-EXAMINATION,
By N. S. Harwood, Esq
Q. You were working there for Boyd?
A. No sir.
Q. Weren't you peddling tick
ets with Boyd's name on?
A. I was not working for Boyd, no sir;
but I had some of his tickets.
Q. What were you peddling Boyd
tickets for? A. Simply if a man want
ed one, and wanted to vote for the
amendment too.
Q. You were peddling Boyd tickets
just the same as you were Powers tick
ets? A. Oh no, but if a man requested
one and wanted to vote for the Amend
ment. " .
Q. But you "were peddling Boyd
tickets? A. I was not peddling them.
Q. You were handing them out to
voters? A. I was handinr them out so
if a voter wanted one I would have
them. ,
r Q. You were handling Paine tickets?
! A. Yes sir, if a man requested it.
Q. You were working simply for the
amendment? A. I was working for
Powers and the amendment,
Q. You had ticket with Bojds nfme
jj0lWjlnslttuninor juaiinusian oogies, 1
like that. The crowd was there